They Started Fighting!

Early the next morning.

The fragrant smell of bread and sausages drifted into the room, but Dong Xuebin still refused to get out of bed, groaning as he slept in.

Luan Xiaoping nudged her son's butt. "Breakfast is ready. Get up."

"It's my day off. Let me sleep a little longer."

"Didn't you say yesterday that you had work to do at the Nursing Home?"

"People at the Street Office are handling it. I'll just go take a look later."

"You should still get up. It's already nine. Hurry, or the bread will get cold."

When he lived alone, Dong Xuebin was fairly diligent. Breakfast, cleaning the house, everything had to be done by himself, whether he wanted to or not. But now that Mom was here, he had someone to rely on and became lazier. After dawdling for ages, he finally crawled out of bed, grudgingly brushed his teeth and washed up. Seeing the full breakfast Mom had prepared, he plopped down in a chair and began wolfing it down.

Luan Xiaoping ate quickly. After finishing a slice of bread, she frowned and picked up the City Daily again. "This Nursing Home is outrageous. The more I read, the angrier I get."

Dong Xuebin stuffed his mouth with sausage. "Their attitude really is a problem."

"Aren't you a Street Office Director? Aren't you going to do something about it?"

"That's Peace Street. It isn't under my jurisdiction."

"So someone's mother disappeared from the Nursing Home, and nobody is going to give them an explanation?"

Dong Xuebin had finished eating too. He pulled out a napkin and wiped his mouth. "Don't worry, Mom. I've already arranged things. Whether she can get justice depends on her."

Just then, Dong Xuebin's phone began ringing.

It was Zhou Yanru from the Party and Government Office. "Director, sorry to disturb your day off?"

Dong Xuebin smiled into the phone. "No, I just finished breakfast and was about to head to the office. What's up?"

"On my way to work just now, I saw a Nursing Home over on Peace Street West Road that seemed to be having an argument. It was pretty lively. The leaders from the Peace Subdistrict Office were all there."

"Hm? What was it about?"

"Some kind of dispute, I think. I didn't hear clearly."

"Got it."

There was obvious gloating in Zhou Yanru's voice. The Central Inspection Team had just arrived, and the Peace Street Community Nursing Home was already having problems. Nothing pleased the Guangming Street Office more.

After hanging up, Dong Xuebin was instantly wide awake. He knew that the call Guo Panwei had made yesterday, posing as a reporter from the Southern News Agency, had worked. Energized, he informed Mom, grabbed his bag, and went downstairs. He did not drive, not wanting to draw too much attention. He quickly hailed a taxi by the roadside, pointed ahead, and reached the area under the Peace Subdistrict Office's jurisdiction in just two or three minutes. After directing the driver through a turn and looking around, the car soon stopped outside a residential garden.

Meizhuang Community.

At the Nursing Home entrance.

As Dong Xuebin got out of the car, he saw a crowd gathered nearby. Most were residents from the surrounding neighborhood. In the middle stood Chu Qinghua and several Peace Subdistrict Office officials. He also spotted a middle-aged woman shouting, along with members of the Central Inspection Team he had met yesterday.

"Half a year! My mother has been missing for half a year, and she still hasn't been found!"

"Ma'am, we understand how you feel, but this matter..."

"Understand my ass! It wasn't your mother who went missing! Of course you're not in a hurry!"

"Watch your mouth! Why are you insulting people?"

"I'm insulting you! If it weren't for your Nursing Home neglecting its duties, and your Street Office ignoring the matter, how could my mother have disappeared? How could she have gotten lost? Your Nursing Home failed to fulfill its responsibilities! All you know is how to take money and spout official nonsense! Then when something happens, you wipe your hands clean? You bunch of parasites! You're all parasites!"

"Comrade, calm down!"

"How can I calm down? My mom is gone! Gone!"

Su Xiaochun pointed at several people in charge from the Street Office and Nursing Home, cursing furiously. She was extremely agitated. Beside her stood a middle-aged man and two middle-aged couples, apparently all relatives of Su Xiaochun. As soon as she started cursing, her husband and relatives began shouting too!

"Give us back my aunt!"

"And you call yourselves a Respect-the-Elderly Model Unit? Pah! Pah!"

"Everyone, come judge this for our family! What kind of Respect-the-Elderly Model Unit is this? Bullshit!"

Meizhuang had once been a rural village under a village committee. Only after restructuring was it incorporated into the city and turned into a Community Resident Committee. As a result, Su Xiaochun's entire family had fiery temperaments. Their insults grew harsher one after another, turning the faces of the Nursing Home's leaders green.

This had happened half a year ago, and the nearby residents had all heard about it. Seeing Su Xiaochun bring her family here again, everyone naturally sympathized with her and began speaking up.

"This really makes no sense."

"Exactly. You only gave them ten thousand yuan in compensation? Aren't you ashamed?"

"Yeah, is a living person only worth ten thousand yuan? What do you take human life for?"

The scene was chaotic. Everyone talked over one another, and after only a few minutes, things had become a mess. Su Xiaochun even rolled up her sleeves as though she were about to fight, looking fierce and ready to pounce...

Dong Xuebin truly had not expected Su Xiaochun's family to be so formidable. He broke into a sweat, but did not go over. Instead, he found an inconspicuous shaded spot outside the small garden, sat on a bench with one leg crossed over the other, smoked, and watched the situation unfold. When he saw Chu Qinghua's gloomy face after he arrived, Dong Xuebin chuckled. Aren't you always pulling tricks behind the scenes? Didn't you give me attitude? Fine, then I'll find you some trouble this time! He had to admit that even he felt his political savvy had improved lately. In the past, he would usually settle these matters head-on through force, but now he knew how to use his brain and play some tricks too.

Chu Qinghua, meanwhile, stood there with a dark face and said nothing, so furious his lungs were about to burst. Why did this have to happen now? The Central Inspection Team had just arrived, and these people came to make trouble? This matter had never been reported in the newspapers precisely because they feared someone might exploit it, but what they feared had come true!

The Peace Subdistrict Office officials around him looked terrible too. None of them had expected something like this to happen on such a crucial day.

They had just been nominated as a Respect-the-Elderly Model Unit, and the Central Inspection Team had only just arrived to inspect them when such discord erupted? This was a slap in the Peace Subdistrict Office's face!

Seeing that several officials could not persuade them to stop, Chu Qinghua finally spoke. "Comrades, if you have something to say, let's go inside and talk. Everyone calm down, calm down!"

Su Xiaochun shouted, "Whatever you have to say, say it here! Let everyone judge who's right!"

Chu Qinghua said grimly, "Are you here to solve the problem or make trouble? Whatever it is, we can resolve it inside! Rest assured, our Street Office will definitely give your family an explanation!"

"Rest assured because of you?" Su Xiaochun cursed. "My ass! Last time, your Street Office was in cahoots with the Nursing Home! It was your Street Office's idea not to give us compensation! We're talking right here today!" After cursing for a while, she had noticed a few things. Turning to the people beside her who had remained silent, she called out, "You must be Central Leaders, right? Please, you have to stand up for our family!"

Chu Qinghua's expression changed. Even they knew that people from the central government had come? He felt that things were not so simple. Someone might be stirring things up behind the scenes! Damn it!

There were six or seven people in the Inspection Team this time.

The group leader, Cheng Yandong, looked at Su Xiaochun and spoke gently. "I didn't hear everything clearly just now. Could you tell us in detail what happened to your mother?"

Su Xiaochun was overjoyed. "All right. Half a year ago, my mother..."

Seeing the Inspection Team take the matter so seriously, with someone even writing things down, Chu Qinghua's heart sank. He knew things were going badly.

Cheng Yandong listened impassively, nodding now and then and occasionally frowning. This was not his first time inspecting work related to respecting the elderly. He knew that local Nursing Homes and Elderly Activity Centers would inevitably have one problem or another. It was impossible for every department in an area to be harmonious and trouble-free. Disputes could not be avoided anywhere; that was normal. But Cheng Yandong believed that problems had to be resolved. Su Xiaochun's mother had been missing for half a year without any explanation, which dissatisfied him. Problems themselves were not frightening, but now that they had come down to inspect, someone was making trouble right in front of them. What did that mean? It meant the Peace Subdistrict Office had failed to do its job properly! Compared with anything else, that was the biggest problem!

One minute...

Five minutes...

Ten minutes...

Su Xiaochun finally finished.

But the Nursing Home's person in charge could not take it anymore. Su Xiaochun's words were extremely biased, making the Nursing Home sound like some criminal den. He could not accept that. Su Xiaochun's family's aggressiveness had also provoked him. They were smearing his name in front of the Central Inspection Team's leaders. With a hard expression, he glared at Su Xiaochun. "Is what you said even true? Huh? There were clearly stated provisions in the contract! Your mother has Alzheimer's! If something happened, our Nursing Home was not responsible! It was written clearly in the contract! Don't spout nonsense!"

Su Xiaochun was enraged. "All you care about is taking money! Once something happens, you don't care? If there's a problem, it's all our responsibility? Why? Why!?"

The Nursing Home director shouted, "You're being unreasonable!"

His attitude made Su Xiaochun's entire family explode. Half a year ago, this was the man who had refused to pay compensation no matter what, then had security throw them out. They would never forget that face for the rest of their lives!

Hearing him now, Su Xiaochun's anger surged. With a whoosh, she lunged at him. "You bastard! I'll fight you to the death!"

Her claws raked across the director's face!

The director hurriedly raised an arm to block her. "Stop! What are you doing? Are you rebelling?"

Su Xiaochun's family rushed forward all at once too!

"He was the one who egged them on!"

"Beat him up!"

"We handed the person over to you! You're the ones who lost her! Give me back my mother! Give her back!"

Su Xiaochun and the others instantly surrounded him, and a fight broke out!